News Story of the Day

Nine former students of a now-closed boarding school have filed lawsuits this month saying they suffered severe abuse as part of a “culture of silence and secrecy” among officials at two schools in West Virginia and Tennessee.

The lawsuits, filed in Kanawha Circuit Court from Oct. 13-17, are the latest legal actions taken in the case of Miracle Meadows School in Salem, Harrison County. Two other former students filed a similar lawsuit in January.

St. Pius X High School leaders were hit with a “bombshell” in 1970 when they were told of allegations of sexual abuse against the Rev. Arthur Perrault, a teacher at the Archdiocese of Santa Fe’s flagship high school.

Those allegations remained secret for decades, but documents released this week pull back the curtain on how those school leaders and the archbishop responded.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Hundreds of pages of court records related to sexual abuse allegations against clergy members are being made public in response to an order from a New Mexico judge, marking the largest disclosure of such records since alleged victims began suing the Archdiocese of Santa Fe nearly three decades ago.

Church officials said in a statement issued after Wednesday's release that they hope the disclosure along with the recent publication of a list of clergy accused of sexual misconduct will serve as an additional step in healing for survivors, their families and parishioners.

Barbara Blaine, founder and former president of SNAP, the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, died on Sunday, September 24, 2017. She was only 61. We are devastated by the loss of our friend and colleague.

By Rory Carroll in Los Angeles and Sam Levin in San Francisco, October 13, 2017, The Guardian

It was Harvey Weinstein’s most ambitious production. A storyline stretching over 20 years with a rotating cast of actors, multiple locations across the US and Europe, a disciplined crew of assistants, producers and fixers, savvy dealmaking, and a publicity machine like no other.

But this was not The English Patient, Pulp Fiction, Shakespeare in Love, The King’s Speech or any other of his films that earned more than 300 Oscar nominations.

A Richland County lawsuit quotes numerous sexually explicit text messages that a First Baptist Church youth worker allegedly sent to a boy in a church program, adding church officials did little or nothing for years while the worker sexually abused the youth.That inaction is part of the downtown Columbia church’s history of failing to take action against potential molesters, the lawsuit alleges.

The boy, now 17, was about 11 when the abuse began, according to the lawsuit, filed in Richland County Circuit Court this week.

A former associate pastor of a large Lexington church has been charged with sexual abuse of two teens, according to court records.

Reid Buchanan, who worked at St. Luke United Methodist Church from July 2016 until August of this year, was arrested Wednesday by Lexington police. Two minors accused Buchanan, 63, of touching them inappropriately multiple times, starting when they were younger, according to a complaint warrant filed in Fayette District Court.

The abuse of the youngest victim allegedly began two years ago. She didn’t come forward until a recent incident.